Home networks and small enterprise networks typically comprise a number of end hosts connected to the internet via a central gateway, such as a wireless access point (AP) or router. All the hosts may be connected via wireless links to the gateway or there may be a mix of wireless and wired hosts (which may also be referred to as wireline hosts). These small networks may comprise a mix of different types of computing devices as end hosts and this is particularly the case for home networks where the end hosts may include desktop and laptop computers, games consoles, home servers, media centers, smart phones, internet protocol (IP) telephones etc. The different end hosts within the network and the different applications running on the end hosts may compete for access to resources within the network.
Traffic management within such networks is problematic and where controls are implemented, this is typically done by application prioritization at the central gateway. One control method uses port-based filters; however, this can be ineffective or inaccurate, particularly for applications, such as some IP telephony services, which use arbitrary port numbers. Another option is to use packet payload inspection; however devices providing payload classification functionality are rarely found in small networks and the devices are costly and complex. Furthermore, such devices are not easily extensible, with policies that focus on specific application types (e.g. gaming traffic) and cannot be modified, for example to take into account user interests.
In a network which comprises a number of wireless end hosts connected to an AP, further problems arise in attempting to prioritize one wireless flow over another wireless flow. Even after applying per flow priorities at the AP, it is not feasible to prioritize one flow because the wireless MAC (medium access control) is distributed and the scheduler is fair, and hence allocates equal resources to the two flows by design.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known traffic management methods.